


Maiden, Mother, Crone

by etoilecourageuse



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: Childhood, Collection: Purimgifts Day 3, Dreams, Gen, Imagination, Innocence, Riverrun, What-If
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-11
Updated: 2020-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:27:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23059228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/etoilecourageuse/pseuds/etoilecourageuse
Summary: She dreamed too much, they said, but where was the fault in dreaming?
Comments: 4
Kudos: 13
Collections: Purimgifts 2020





	Maiden, Mother, Crone

**Author's Note:**

  * For [crossingwinter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/crossingwinter/gifts).



> Happy Purim! I really hope that you enjoy this - Cat has been my very favourite character from the first moment on, and I always get so excited when I get a chance to write her!

As a young girl, no older than nine or ten, Catelyn Tully had often caught herself wondering about her future; she would merely close her eyes and drift into her imagination, would see herself in her wedding gown, shyly looking up to her Lord Husband, later cradling her first child within her arms… A son, of course, as it was expected of her. Yet she promised herself that she would cherish and love her daughters as well… There would be no difference, not to her. 

She saw herself in her new home, imagined a beautiful stronghold with a large Sept that she could retread to as often as she wished, to kneel down and pray to the Seven whenever she required… It would be a good home, perhaps not as pleasant as Riverrun, but wasn’t the childhood home always unattainable, no matter how similar, how breathtaking the new residence would be? Perhaps she would get lost at first, but soon know the walls just as well as her own. Catelyn wondered whom she would wed, whose Lady Wife she would become one day, wondered which part of the Seven Kingdoms she would spend such a large, such a significant part of her life in, never to return to her maiden home… At the Vale, perhaps, so high up on the mountain? Or in beautiful Highgarden, to become a Tyrell of the Reach? Would she travel far North to bear children carrying the name of Stark at Winterfell, surrounded by the Old Gods and the New alike, all to watch over her, blessing her every day anew? If only she knew… If only she were capable of predicting the future… 

From time to time, Catelyn would also watch her hair grey and her skin wrinkle, would encounter the children of her children and see little babes grow into men and ladies all over again, just as her own had long grown up… It was beautiful… So very beautiful. to be a maiden at first, then a mother, later a crone… Only to return to her youth merely by opening her eyes. 

She dreamed too much, they said, but where was the fault in dreaming? Dreams were mere mirrors of realities that could be, they didn’t do any harm… Which maiden did not dream about her life away from home, did not imagine her husband…? Certainly, Catelyn’s husband would be a fine man, a true Lord, and she would love him… Gladly devote herself to him… Perhaps they would even love one another… As much as they would love their children, little babes resembling them in every way… The boys her husband, the girls herself… it was beautiful. So beautiful that she found herself smiling widely even minutes after. 

Oh, her future was a bright one, she could see it… Feel it… She could feel it in her bones. Even if she did not live to old age, it would be a good life… And one day it would no longer be a dream. One day it would be the truth.

**Author's Note:**

>   
> 


End file.
